PKN ORLEN has been doubly honoured in the " Eagles of Polish Business in Germany" awards, designed to commend the best Polish investors and entrepreneurs operating in the Federal Republic of Germany. PKN ORLEN’s CEO, Jacek Krawiec, received the Grand Prix – the most important of the trophies awarded today – at the hands of Mrs Danuta Wałęsa and Chairman of the Economic Council of the Prime Minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki. Moreover, a distinction in the "Trade" category went to the CEO of ORLEN Deutschland, Józef Niedworok. The judging panel of the first edition of the award, organised by the Lech Wałęsa Institute, commended the company's ability to successfully do business on the highly demanding market.
PKN ORLEN is active on the German market through its subsidiary Orlen Deutschland. The Polish company established a foothold in Germany with the transaction, concluded in 2003, whereby it acquired 494 service stations from BP for EUR 140 million. Currently, Orlen Deutschland operates a retail network comprising 569 stations, chiefly under the STAR brand name, located in the northern part of Germany, and its market share has been steadily growing. In 2010, the company's turnover rose to EUR 2.9 billion.
“Germany is a very ordered and demanding market, which is why the beginnings of our operations in the country were not at all easy. However, our determination and bold business decisions have helped us succeed. With the investment, PKN ORLEN made a first step towards establishing an international presence. Today, both the financial performance and market position of Orlen Deutschland are rapidly improving, while the Star brand launched in Germany is becoming more and more recognizable and well-liked by German drivers,” said PKN ORLEN’s CEO Jacek Krawiec.
The "Eagles of Business" award was initiated by the Lech Wałęsa Institute Foundation to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the signing, on June 17th 1991, by the then Polish Prime Minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl of the Polish-German treaty, which is considered to mark the beginning of Poland’s business expansion into Germany.
“20 years ago, when the Polish-German treaty was signed, probably no one believed that we would be able to change the very poor image of the Polish economy in such a short time. It was a time when the priority was to attract western capital and know-how to Poland. The flow of capital and know-how in the opposite direction was unthinkable. Nowadays, we live in a different world. Poland has demonstrated resilience in the teeth of the crisis and Polish firms have shown that they could – just like Lech Wałęsa – achieve successes by jumping over walls. In our case, they represent the border between the two countries, rather than the shipyard’s walls. "Polnische Wirtschaft" has an entirely different meaning today than it had 20 years ago,” added the CEO.
The judging panel of the award included Polish Ambassadors to the Federal Republic of Germany, Minister Counsellors, Polish Consuls General, Members of the Board of the Polish Chamber of Commerce in Germany, Presidents of the Polish-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chairman of the Lech Wałęsa Institute Foundation.
Press Office
PKN ORLEN